The River maker

By Rajendra Singh

In 1985, Rajendra Singh quit the cocoon of a government job and the considerable comforts of the Rajasthani city of Jaipur for rural development work in the Indian outback. Medicine and literacy were all very well, villagers said, but what they needed first was water. So he learned traditional water-management skills, dug ponds with his hands, braved cudgels and hundreds of legal writs – and last year won the Asia-wide Ramon Magsaysay Award for community leadership/

How do you bring a dead river back to life?

Using traditional rainwater harvesting systems, especially johads. They catch the rainwater that …

To continue reading this premium article, subscribe for unlimited access.